Saturday, March 3, 2012

It is an unfortunate fact that we live in an age when the priesthood is under assault like never before. Nowhere is that assault more visible than in the culture war of homosexuality.

Homosexuals have made great gains in their quest of acceptance by using the courtroom and cloaking themselves in the mantle of Civil Rights. However, mere acceptance is not enough. Militant homosexuals will accept nothing less than unconditional approval from all sectors of society and will stop at nothing to destroy anyone who stands in their way. There is apparently a three-pronged attack on the priesthood, orchestrated by militant homosexuals and almost transparent in its obviousness for those who take the trouble to look beyond the headlines.

PRONG #1: INFILTRATE AND DISCREDIT

THE PRIESTHOOD

It is hard to find any diocese in the United States that does not have a significant number of homosexual priests. However, we must be careful not to assume a priest is homosexual simply because he is soft-spoken, effeminate or has "that look". There are many effeminate men in this world who are perfectly normal in their sexual proclivities (think Brian Eno).

However, it cannot be denied that, generally, priests as a group are much more effeminate than they were two generations ago. In his book, Goodbye Good Men, author Michael Rose documents well how dioceses and seminaries across the country have been dominated by homosexuals for at least two decades.

Does this mean homosexuals are automatically bad people? No. What it means is that a homosexual priest is far less likely to freely teach what the Church teaches about human sexuality and other moral issues, because doing so would be a contradiction to his instincts (and, sometimes, lifestyle). So to change the way the Church teaches, homosexuals have attempted to infiltrate and take over the priesthood. They have been very effective.

PRONG #2: USE THE SULLIED REPUTATION OF THE PRIESTHOOD TO ATTACK PRIESTS

The result of the infiltration of the priesthood has been a sexual abuse crisis the likes of which Christianity has never seen before. The crisis, unearthed to the public at large in 2002, was so widespread that the USCCB commissioned a special study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. After finding that the report did not tell them what they wanted to hear, its findings have been downplayed: The majority of victims were adolescent males (translation: The offending priests were homosexuals).

Thanks to the homosexual infiltration of the priesthood, we have spent billions of dollars in settlements, had the unprecedented event of states lifting the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases (only in cases involving the Catholic Church, of course) and a new class of attorneys making a career out of suing dioceses.

If that's not enough, now whenever there is any story of any controversy surrounding a priest or bishop, you can count on at least one letter to the editor that begins like this:

"What do you expect from a closeted Church run by a bunch of child molesters..."

PRONG #3: USE THE "CIVIL RIGHTS" ARGUMENT

TO DISCREDIT AND REMOVE PRIESTS

WHO UPHOLD CHURCH TEACHING

Finally, now that the priesthood is under the cloud of suspicion that homosexuals themselves created for the Church, their final target is the true believers, the priests who refuse to be timid in their practice of teaching the Church and defending Her honor. Thankfully, less than 2 percent of all ordained priests have been involved with sexual abuse and there are still priests among us who teach the dogmas of the faith without compromise. As soon as a homosexual learns of one, the setup begins. These priests have to go. They not only have to go, they have to be disgraced as hate-filled bigots. And it's not hard to do, since most Catholics have been lulled to sleep with candy-coated religion for almost four decades now. Instead of defending these good priests, the average Catholic in the pew will join their voices with the Gay Lobby. Which brings us to our first Fall-Guy Priest:

Father Marcel Guarnizo

Father Guarnizo, as you probably know by now, officiated at a funeral Mass in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. last week, where he denied Communion to lesbian Barbara Johnson. Johnson claims that Fr. Guarnizo refused her Communion after learning just before the service about her lesbian relationship with her partner. However, it's not quite so simple as just a refusal of Holy Communion because of Johnson's sexual orientation. Canonists and hair-splitters are denouncing Fr. Guarnizo's actions because they insist he did not properly apply Canon 915, specifically, he did not discuss her gravely sinful and public situation with her and give her ample opportunity to repent (and go to Confession). In Barbara Johnson's case, true repentance would mean ending her lesbian "lifestyle" and no longer co-habitating with a woman she publicly boasts of as her lover. However, they were apparently not the only ones in the sacristy before Mass. A commenter on Deacon Greg Kandras' blog wrote this:

I happen to know “First hand” that Barbara went into the sacristy before the mass and introduced herself as a lesbian in an active lesbian relationship… introducing her partner as “her lover” (her words). She left the sacristy before Fr. could have the “private discussion” you talk about. Barbaras “Lover” blocked his way out of the sacristy when he attempted to speak with her further.

This testimony is also confirmed by Diego von Stauffenberg in a story at LifeSite News.

So it appears that Fr. Guarnizo was put in a very difficult position. He made a "battlefield decision" to protect the Blessed Sacrament from being profaned and the results are obvious: The Gay community is calling for his head. If this woman was raised Catholic, then she surely knew that her lifestyle is a polar opposite of what is permitted by the Catholic Church. Given her age, she may never have been taught that you must not receive Communion if you are in a state of mortal sin. Instead she is throwing around words like "judgmental" and milking this for everything she can. And it's worked. Instead of defending their priest, The Archdiocese of Washington has already issued a public apology. But Barbara Johnson is a mere pawn in a larger game. The Gay community cannot stand it that priests like this are permitted to minister in the Catholic Church and they will not rest until these kind of priests are eliminated. Don't be surprised if some sanction against Fr. Guarnizo follows.

Father Solcia has been an associate pastor at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in San Diego since 1992. OLR is designated an Italian National Parish, which gives it some limited independence from the Diocese of San Diego and has been staffed by Barnabite (Clerks Regular of St. Paul) priests for many years. Fr. Solcia himself has a reputation of not mincing words, and this has been noted by San Diego's Gay community, since he is one of very few priests in the diocese to denounce the annual Gay Pride festival.

Their opportunity came in June of 2011 when prominent homosexual John Sanfilippo died. His family had been members of the parish and the surviving members allegedly arranged for a funeral Mass at OLR. However, the parish later informed the family that they could not permit a funeral Mass at the parish because of Sanfilippo's notoriety as an unrepentant homosexual. The Gay community lost no time in running to the media to complain. No fool he, Fr. Solcia told the congregation at one of his Masses later that week that the parish had been "set up". And he was right. However, this only fueled the fire, leaving the Diocese of San Diego trembling to appease the rage in its Gay community. The appeasement came in the form of a funeral Mass held at the chapel of Holy Cross Catholic cemetery. Fr. Solcia has been their target ever since, however, declining health has kept him out of the public eye.

The mainstream media neglected to mention more details about the funeral "refusal": Sanfilippo was the owner of a popular gay bar and had divorced his wife years before. While the gay media described him as a "devout" Catholic, he had not been active in OLR parish for years. It was his gay lover, not his "family" who approached OLR for a funeral Mass. He was not refused a Mass, but told that no Communion would be distributed to protect the Blessed Sacrament from being profaned.

And that's not a setup?

Father Joseph Baca

Father Joe Baca was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Fresno, California in 2001 after jumping around seminaries. One seminary, St. John's in Camarillo, sent him away three times. They didn't like his attitude. He didn't like their lack of orthodoxy and open homosexuality. After his ordination he served as an assistant at a few parishes before landing in St. Patrick's parish in Merced, California in 2003. Fr. Baca's presence quickly separated the Catholics from the rest of the crowd. He was drawing record numbers of people to his religious education classes and was the subject of critical letters to the diocese for his orthodox teaching and strict liturgical observances.

His pastor, Fr. Lastiri, was frequently away. While Fr. Lastiri was on one of his trips in Tahiti, Fr. Baca raised the ire of the person who was really running the parish, administrator Jean Smith. After Smith complained to Fr. Lastiri about Fr. Baca, Fr. Lastiri wrote Bishop Steinbock, asking for Fr. Baca's dismissal because of his "anger problems". Fr. Baca was removed and given no new assignment, and instructed to attend a facility for anger management training.

It's always easy to blame the bishop for not supporting the priest in these cases, but Bishop Steinbock knew enough about his diocese to realize that the kind of priests he was stuck with would never welcome Fr. Baca back. Fr. Baca visited Bishop Steinbock in the hospital before his death in 2010 and he told Fr. Baca that he had no choice but to suspend him, since there was no pastor in the diocese that would accept him. Keep in mind, this is the same diocese that gave us Fr. Geoff Farrow, the homosexual priest who came out about his sexual identity and his support of homosexual marriage at a public Mass on Respect Life Sunday in 2008.

The prospects for the Diocese of Fresno may not be much better now, since their new bishop is Armando Ochoa, formerly the Bishop of El Paso. Bishop Ochoa is one of many bishops whose career path was nurtured by Cardinal Mahony. And, in case you've forgotten, Bishop Ochoa wasted no time in his handling of Fall-Guy Priest #4...

Father Michael Rodriguez

Fr. Rodriguez had two strikes against him in the first place: He was devoted to Tradition with a capital T and took advantage of Summorum Pontificum's liberation of the Traditional Latin Mass as far as any priest could. If that wasn't enough, he also became a very public voice in leading the opposition to El Paso politicians who supported homosexual marriage. Not exactly the way to endear yourself to a protege of Cardinal Mahony.

In October of 2011, Bishop Ochoa transferred the popular priest from his thriving El Paso parish and sent him packing to an obscure little church four hours south in Big Bend country near the Mexican border.

If that wasn't enough, Bishop Ochoa is suing Fr. Rodriguez for allegedly mishandling finances. For his part, Fr. Rodriguez insists that transfers are just a part of being a priest and he has accepted his new assignment with stoic indifference. As for the lawsuit, Fr. Rodriguez says he has nothing to hide and is preparing to make a vigorous defense, should it make it to the courtroom.

Fr. James Haley

Father James Haley should be the poster boy for Fall Guy Priests. Unfortunately, there is no picture available to put on the poster.

Fr. Haley had been bumped from parish to parish in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia since his ordination in 1987. It seems that everywhere he went, the underground homosexual (and heterosexual) activity of unchaste priests made life increasingly difficult for him. His previous Bishop, John Keating, sympathized but did nothing. His succesor, Bishop Paul Loverde did do something, but not to any of the offending priests.